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“Careful,” I said. “Don’t destroy the clothing, particularly in the area of the gun shot.”
Dr. Sholly glanced at me for an instant, although I couldn’t quite decipher his expression. There was no time to anyway. All my attention was on the patient now, making sure everything ran smoothly. All the while, I made sure to stay one step ahead of the doctor, anticipating his needs and his moves before he had even figured them out himself. That was my job.
“Looks like an exit wound right about here,” Dr. Sholly said in a voice that made knees weak. “Probably another damn drive by.”
“Let’s leave it to the forensics department to make that assessment,” I said, earning an annoyed glance from him.
“I know what I’m looking at,” he quipped. This wasn’t starting out well, but I was terrible at walking away from a fight.
“I’m sure you do,” I responded, “but we have a very specific job to do here, doc. So we should stick to it.”
Dr. Sholly mumbled under his breath and several other nurses raised their eyebrows, making me realize my words had bit harder than I should have allowed
. I couldn’t really care though; my concern was for Nate, and for his sake, we needed to stay on task. I was forcibly reminded of why I preferred Dr. Nualli; we were always on the same page and she would have never taken a moment to contemplate any details other than what was absolutely necessary to treat the patient right then and there.
After long stretch of silence, Dr. Sholly spoke again. “Lucky guy here. There won’t be any permanent damage. He’ll need therapy, but he’ll walk again. No severe bone or nerve damage. The bullet seems to have made it in and out without hitting anything serious. Send up a notice to the surgeon upstairs that he needs to be stitched up.”
I let out a relieved sigh, causing Dr. Sholly to stare at me again. I felt a flush rising over my cheeks.
“Kennery?”
I gave a start at him saying my last name. “Yes?”
“You almost looked more panicked than our patient did when he first came in. Word of advice for you—if this kind of thing is too much stress for you, then maybe you should reconsider your line of work.”
I blinked and felt a flush spreading across my face again, but this time, it was purely from rage. I cleared my throat. “I beg your pardon, doctor. But as I’ve said before, you should refrain from making assessments you are in no position to make—be in the type of bullet wound, or my competence as an emergency room nurse. So a word of advice for you—stick to what you know.”
The room fell so silent, the beeping of the patient’s heart monitor practically sounded like a siren. One of the other nurses attempted to pass the tablet to another, but dropped it, for her eyes were too busy darting between me and Dr. Sholly.
“Sorry,” she said hastily, kneeling to retrieve it, but the other nurse—Miles—beat her to it.
Gripping the clipboard in his hands, Miles cleared his throat. “No offense, Dr. Sholly—but Tessa really is one of the best nurses we have here. So if she ever left this line of work, it would be a real tragedy.”
Dr. Sholly shot Miles an annoyed glance and then turned back to the patient.
I caught Miles’ eye and nodded in appreciation. “I’ll take that,” I said, reaching for the tablet. “Can someone read out his vital signs, please?”
I proceeded to record the patient’s information, deciding to let someone else take over handing Dr. Sholly the tools he needed because I suddenly wasn’t keen on having more interaction with him than necessary.
“Good work, team,” Dr. Sholly said after a while. “Put out the notice that Nate here can be sent up to a room awaiting surgery. Has his family been contacted?”
I glanced up from the tablet, dumbfounded. Dr. Sholly looked toward me, a challenging gleam within his gaze. “Yes?” he said.
I lowered the tablet. “You haven’t finished examining this patient. His whole body has to be examined, not just the area with the noticeable wound.” I looked around to my fellow nurses for backup, but they remained suspiciously quiet, some of them looking positively scandalized. Only Molly looked at me and nodded, encouraging me to go on. I shook my head and laughed, though I found the situation far from humorous. “Unbelievable,” I muttered, realizing they were all too intimidated to speak. This was yet another reason I appreciated Dr. Nualli; she had taught me to follow my instincts and never be afraid to speak up on a patient’s behalf, even to the doctor in charge.
“What is it that you feel is unfinished, Ms. Kennery?” Dr. Sholly said. “The patient is stabilized. His vitals are good. He is expected to make a full recovery in due time. Surely, you can see that.”
I pursed my lips together and took a deep breath. Perhaps it was just my imagination that made me think Dr. Sholly’s eyes had briefly lowered to my chest…
I swallowed before speaking, staring him straight in those deep seductive eyes of his. “You should be well aware that it is standard procedure to give the patient a thorough whole-body examination, not just solely concentrate on the area of the GSW. Although he appears to be fine otherwise, we have to be certain nothing is overlooked.”
I set the tablet down and approached the patient, ready to complete his examination even if I had to do it alone. All the while, I thought Dr. Sholly’s eyes would burn a hole in my head. But instead, after what felt like forever, he approached the patient again.
“Step aside, Kennery,” he said, and then proceeded to complete the examination.
The other nurses watched with baited breath until it was over.
“He’s just great.” Dr. Sholly glanced at me one last time before removing his gloves and leaving the area without saying another word.
